(no subject)
Feb. 21st, 2011 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
asimplechordHave y'all been watching the situation in Wisconsin?
Go, Red.
I was a member of the UW TAA, the Teaching Assistants' Association, when I was a grad student. Generally the Chemistry Department treated its TAs well, but that was not the case university-wide, and with the TAA's help and collective bargaining, we had the best health care I have ever had. Ever. (I have since worked exclusively in medical schools that are physically located in or contiguous with a teaching hospital, so that's pretty sad.) We were also able to have tuition waived as part of our salaries, paltry though they were, rather than having additional monies removed after taxes. Honestly, I have no idea how I was able to pay my rent when I look at my tax records from my first year, where we had to pay tuition out of our $12k/year pre-tax salary. I remember some months where my take-home pay was $545, and my rent was $425. The rest had to cover all utilities, food, and other needs for the month.
Teaching assistants and research associates couldn't have done that without the TAA. Individual students and departments wouldn't've have had enough leverage with the university. Fair pay for fair work, with some social benefits. That didn't seem like too much to ask.
It is my understanding that at this point, the unions have agreed to many of the salary and benefits restrictions that Walker has demanded. The only reason for him to continue to force this issue is to deny public workers the possibility of collective bargaining, to break the unions.
I've heard the argument that public employees are getting health care and salary on the public dime. But the amount of money a public defender or a public school teacher makes in comparison to what they could make in private practice is a pittance. These are the people teaching and taking care of (y)our children for 8 hours a day, responding to health emergencies, making sure (y)our streets are clean. Surely they deserve the ability to negotiate as a group for issues relating to compensation and work-place environment conditions.
Go, Red.
I was a member of the UW TAA, the Teaching Assistants' Association, when I was a grad student. Generally the Chemistry Department treated its TAs well, but that was not the case university-wide, and with the TAA's help and collective bargaining, we had the best health care I have ever had. Ever. (I have since worked exclusively in medical schools that are physically located in or contiguous with a teaching hospital, so that's pretty sad.) We were also able to have tuition waived as part of our salaries, paltry though they were, rather than having additional monies removed after taxes. Honestly, I have no idea how I was able to pay my rent when I look at my tax records from my first year, where we had to pay tuition out of our $12k/year pre-tax salary. I remember some months where my take-home pay was $545, and my rent was $425. The rest had to cover all utilities, food, and other needs for the month.
Teaching assistants and research associates couldn't have done that without the TAA. Individual students and departments wouldn't've have had enough leverage with the university. Fair pay for fair work, with some social benefits. That didn't seem like too much to ask.
It is my understanding that at this point, the unions have agreed to many of the salary and benefits restrictions that Walker has demanded. The only reason for him to continue to force this issue is to deny public workers the possibility of collective bargaining, to break the unions.
I've heard the argument that public employees are getting health care and salary on the public dime. But the amount of money a public defender or a public school teacher makes in comparison to what they could make in private practice is a pittance. These are the people teaching and taking care of (y)our children for 8 hours a day, responding to health emergencies, making sure (y)our streets are clean. Surely they deserve the ability to negotiate as a group for issues relating to compensation and work-place environment conditions.
